Vacuum cleaner for reservoirs

ABSTRACT

A vacuum cleaner for reservoirs, especially swimming pools, including a working chamber provided with an inlet for liquid, connected with a vacuum generating unit. Between the inlet of liquid and the vacuum generating unit a rotary-shaped rolling rotor is placed in the flow of drawn in liquid. The rolling rotor is arranged in a swivelling and rotary manner and encompassed with a surface for rolling. In the contact point between the rolling rotor and the surface for rolling the rolling rotor has a smaller diameter than the surface for rolling. The rotor is connected with at least one brush.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to a vacuum cleaner for reservoirs, especiallyswimming pools, comprising a working chamber provided with an inlet forliquid, connected with a vacuum generating unit.

BACKGROUND ART

The known vacuum cleaners for reservoir, mainly the ones applicable tothe leisure swimming pools, but also to those for the industrialpurposes, including the firewater reservoirs, are either manual,semiautomatic, or automatic. The vacuum-cleaners are drawing in the dirttogether with water which will bring them to the filter seated justinside the vacuum cleaner, or in the filtration system off the cleanedreservoir. In order that the vacuum cleaner could work, it must beconnected to the pump being mostly situated outside the reservoir andproviding the necessary vacuum.

The known manual vacuum cleaners consist of the working chamber open atits bottom and fitted optionally with the immovable brushes. A flexiblehose is used to connect the working chamber with the vacuum generatingunit. The working chamber is moved along the reservoir bottom or sidewalls with the bar affixed to it. The bar tends to be of a telescopictype.

The semiautomatic or fully automatic vacuum cleaners are moreover fittedwith a mechanism which moves the working chamber along the reservoirbottom, sometimes also with a remote control.

The disadvantage of all known water reservoir vacuum cleaners is thatthe efficiency of the mechanical part of the cleaning depends only onthe speed with which the brush is moved along the surface being cleanedand on the press down force.

For a perfect contact between the brush and the surface being cleaned itis good for the brush to be connected with the rotor via a swingingjoint.

In its convenient embodiment the rotor has a shape of a hollowhemisphere with its open side facing the incoming flow and the brusharranged along the circumference edge of the hemisphere.

With the utmost simplification of the construction in mind it isadvantageous to have the rolling rotor seated inside the working chamberand the rolling surface made directly on the inner wall of the workingchamber.

In accordance with its other advantageous embodiments the workingchamber has at its bottom edge a set of inlets for liquid, the workingchamber can be connected with the vacuum generating unit with a flexiblehose and a bar designed to move the cleaner can be attached to theworking chamber.

For the reduced operating costs the brush can be fitted in a replaceableway.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The invention will be described with the use of the schematic drawingswhere the

FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 illustrate various examples of the vacuum cleaner.

The FIG. 4 gives an example as how to use the vacuum cleaner in aswimming pool.

The FIG. 5 shows an example of the rotor construction with a replaceablebrush.

The FIG. 6 shows an example of the working chamber design.

MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows the first example of the vacuum cleaner designed to cleanleisure swimming pools. The unit has a working chamber 1, open in itsbottom part, while this opening forms an inlet 3 for liquid. At theupper end, there is the working chamber 1 connected with a vacuumgenerating unit 2 by means of a flexible hose 8.

A rolling liquid-operated machine, which can also be used to drive therotating tools, is known from the published international patentapplications No. WO 98/17910 and WO 99/61790, the disclosures of whichare incorporated by references.

This machine consists of a chamber equipped with a liquid intake lineand at least one outlet opening with the rolling rotor placed upstreamthe opening. The rolling rotor is of rotary-shaped body. A brush can bemounted on the output shaft. Such equipment can be used to clean thesurfaces. In this case the dirt is disturbed mechanically with therotating brush and flushed away by the liquid flowing out of themachine's chamber.

Goal of the invention is to design a liquid reservoir vacuum cleaner,which would make it possible to disturb mechanically the debris stuck tothe reservoir's bottom and walls, using the rotating brushes, withoutthe necessity to install any auxiliary power supply unit.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The above goal can be achieved with a vacuum cleaner designed to cleanthe liquid reservoirs, especially swimming pools, comprising a workingchamber, which has an inlet for liquid, being connected with a vacuumgenerating unit. Between the liquid inlet and the vacuum generating unitthere is a rotary shaped rolling rotor arranged in the flow of theliquid being drawn in. The rolling rotor is arranged both in inclinableand in rotary manner and encompassed with a surface for rolling. In thecontact point between the rolling rotor and the surface for rolling therolling rotor has smaller diameter than the surface for rolling. Therotor is connected with at least one brush.

The advantage of the vacuum cleaner pursuant to the invention rests in asubstantially increased reservoir cleaning efficiency and quality, allthis without the necessity to install any auxiliary power supply unit.

Vacuum generating unit 2 is formed by a pump installed in a circulationcircuit, which is a part of technical equipments of the known swimmingpools. These technical equipments are used to circulate water for itsfiltering and/or heating. In such an embodiment the vacuum cleaner usesa filter (not shown here) to capture the dirt. This filter forms a partof the known circulating circuit.

In another embodiment not shown here, the filter can be a part of thevacuum cleaner itself. Such a design is used to clean the liquidreservoirs or swimming pools without any circulating circuits. In such acase, any movable pump can be used as the vacuum generating unit 2.

In the case of the embodiment according to the FIG. 1 the rolling rotor4 is attached to a shaft 10, which is placed in the working chamber 1 ininclinable and in rotary manner. Various supports of the rotor 4 willnot be described in detail since they have been described in thepublished international applications no. WO 98/17910 or WO 99/61790 thedisclosures of which are incorporated by references.

The rolling rotor 4 can have any rotary shape, having a smaller diameterthan the rolling surface 5 in the point where the rolling rotor 4 comesin contact with the rolling surface 5 created on the inner wall of theworking chamber 1.

In the illustrated embodiment the rotor 4 is shaped like a hollowhemisphere with its open side upstream, with a brush 6 arranged alongcircumference edge of the hollow hemisphere. In the embodiment as perFIG. 1 the bristles of the brush 6 are affixed straight in the edge ofthe rotor 4. An advantageous embodiment is shown in the FIG. 5 where thebrush 6 is attached to the rotor 4 in a removable way. Such anembodiment makes it possible to replace the worn brush 6.

For a perfect contact between the brush 6 and the surface being cleanedthe design in the FIG. 1 uses the rotor 4 affixed to the shaft 10 bymeans of the swinging joint 7.

A telescopic bar 9 is attached to the working chamber 1 in order to movethe cleaner along the bottom and walls of the reservoir being cleaned.

When a swimming pool is to be cleaned, the working chamber 1 has to beconnected with the vacuum generating unit 2, using the flexible hose 8.The cleaner is now lowered down into the pool with the bar 9 (see FIG.4). The water drawn in through the inlet 3 flows via the working chamber1 to the filter (not shown here), coming in the filtered form back tothe pool, using the line 11.

The water current flowing through the working chamber 1 will cause therolling rotor 4 rolling along the inner wall of the working chamber 1.This principle has been described in the published international patentapplications no. WO 98/17910 and WO99/61790 the disclosures of which areincorporated by references and will not therefore be analysed here indetails. Along with the rotor 4, the brush 6 will stay in a precession.

Once the vacuum cleaner is connected to the swimming pool's circulationcircuit with the a filtration and a pump with the capacity of 50 m³ ofthe pumped water in an hour, the rotor 4 has an average speed of 100rpm, exerting the micro-oscillations at the same time, 1,500 per minuteon average. The micro-oscillations resulting from the rotor 4 rollingalong the rolling surface 5 spread themselves up to the brush 6, usingthe shaft 10. The dirt is disrupted mechanically with the brush 6, beingalso flushed away with the flowing water via the working chamber 1 intothe filter (not shown here) where the dirt is trapped and the cleanwater comes back to the swimming pool using the line 11. A surface of 15m² can be cleaned well with the described device being moved justmanually with the telescopic bar 9 in about 10 minutes. Of course, anyother known driving device can be used to move the working chamber 1along the surfaces being cleaned, including an automatic or remotecontrol system.

Another embodiment of the vacuum cleaner is shown in the FIG. 2. Thisembodiment differs from the one in FIG. 1 in the rolling rotor 4 whichis firmly attached to the shaft 10 and which has a separate brush 6underneath. To be in perfect contact with the surface being cleaned thisbrush 6 is attached to the rotor 4, using the swinging joint 7. Thebrush 6, of course, can be of a replaceable design.

The embodiment in FIG. 3 is, in fact, the same as the one in FIG. 2,except of the bottom edge of the working chamber 1, holding theimmovable auxiliary brush 12.

Functionally, the embodiments in the FIGS. 2 and 3 is similar to the onedescribed above in the FIG. 1.

Embodiment according to FIG. 6 has the inlet 3 of the working chamber 1formed by a set of openings, made on the bottom edge of the workingchamber 1.

In case of all the above-described embodiments the surface 5 for therotor 4 rolling is created directly on the inner side of the workingchamber 1. Such a design is simplest as far as the driving of the brush6 is concerned. But this in not the only possible arrangement. Thesurface 5 for rolling and the rotor 4 can, in fact be, placed whereverin the flow of water drawn in.

The experts take it for granted that the described vacuum cleaner can beused not only to clean the swimming pools, but also, in fact, anyreservoirs containing a liquid.

1-7. (canceled)
 8. A vacuum cleaner for reservoirs, comprising: aworking chamber provided with an inlet for liquid, connected with avacuum generating unit; a rotary-shaped rolling rotor placed in a flowof drawn in liquid between the inlet of liquid and the vacuum generatingunit, the rolling rotor configured in swivelling and rotary manner andencompassed with a surface for rolling, while in a contact point betweenthe rolling rotor and the surface for rolling the rolling rotor has asmaller diameter than the surface for rolling, and the rotor isconnected with at least one brush.
 9. The vacuum cleaner as in claim 8,wherein the at least one brush is attached to the rotor by a swingingjoint.
 10. The vacuum cleaner as in claim 8, wherein the rotor is shapedlike a hollow hemisphere with its open side upstream, while the at leastone brush is arranged along an circumference edge of the hollowhemisphere.
 11. The vacuum cleaner as in claim 8, wherein the rollingrotor is placed in the working chamber and the surface for rolling isformed on an inner wall of the working chamber.
 12. The vacuum cleaneras in claim 8, wherein the working chamber has at its bottom edge a setof the inlets for liquid.
 13. The vacuum as in claim 8, wherein theworking chamber is connected with the vacuum generating unit with aflexible hose, while the bar is attached to the working chamber to movethe working chamber.
 14. The vacuum cleaner as in claim 8, wherein theat least one brush is fitted to be replaceable.